Big tires, little car

Unfortunately, big tires and Civics were never mean to co-exist. That's why today's project was fender trimming. I took it for a spin with it's big tires (275/35/15), figured out what was hitting, and then went to town. I can actually get full lock, though with less than 1/4" of clearance on the inside. That may turn into rub once I've got the tires mounted on the right rims (15 x 10 instead of 15 x 8). We'll see. The place it was hitting was the top of the fender well. Makes sense, as the tire sticks past the fender and there was ~1" of room between tire and fender at the top. What I did was take the 2" space that existed front and rear, and cut the top out to match, such that the tire now has 2" of clearance all the way around. A test drive involving heavy turning, heavy braking, and even a bit of curbing where appropriate reveals no more rubbing. Woohoo.

I will admit that taking a ziz wheel to the car is still pretty stressful, but I'm learning to embrace it.

Now that's exciting. Have you decided on your flares yet? Just wanted to go on record that I love exposed fasteners on flares. :)

Probably not going to do flares for the time being. I may later. At some point I'd love to make a one piece front end. If that ever happens, it will be flared.

I must say, those wheels are awesome.

I like them too, but they are going to be relegated to rear-only before long. I'm converting the front to a wide-5 setup (yes, like circle track cars) so that I can run affordable yet light weight 15 x 10's.

At some point, the rear may also go to wide-5, as the appeal of magnesium hubs may be more than I can resist.

There is a Northeast SM champ/contender who fabbed up widebody fenders for his EG. (point of interest)

Those wheels are kinda hot w/ teh low-offset think that's going on in the Honda scene. They look good, no doubt.

Flares will make your EF look really sweet, though.

If you were a JDM whore: http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?p=37306591

Yeah, I know that EG well. Unfortunately, the owner bought an S2K and the car is for sale, so I won't be able to race it in the foreseeable future.

Also - while those flares aren't bad, holy crap are they expensive.

Nice job and looks good but no gloves or safety glasses? Shame on you Dave, I thought you knew better!

minimac wrote: Nice job and looks good but no gloves or safety glasses? Shame on you Dave, I thought you knew better!

1. I am wearing safety glasses.
2. Using gloves with power tools are a good way to turn what would be a flesh wound into broken or missing fingers. Bad idea.

Circle track wide-5 wheels on a Civic? That's something I've never heard of being tried before. Is it going to be some kind of adapter holding them on, or will that be accompanying something crazier like Buell style inside-out brakes?

MadScientistMatt wrote: Circle track wide-5 wheels on a Civic? That's something I've never heard of being tried before. Is it going to be some kind of adapter holding them on, or will that be accompanying something crazier like Buell style inside-out brakes?

Simple lug adapter for the time being. The inside out brakes come later.

Could that wide-5 setup be done on other cars? What do you think the cheapest a swap could be?

PHeller wrote: Could that wide-5 setup be done on other cars? What do you think the cheapest a swap could be?

I'm a dealer for Real Racing Wheels. If the setup works as well as I think it will, I will be figuring out the specs for other cars.

It is ~$250 - $300 / corner for the adapter and the first wheel. After that, the wheels are ~$150 each. For the first set of wheel, it's a little cheaper than a set of custom wheels. Once the adapter is bought though, it gets way cheaper for spares, rains, etc.

But you could essentially run stock wheels and superlight wides as well?

I don't have that kind of money either way, but considering that even the lightest 16x10s are easily over $1000 in the 4x114.3 of the 240SX, paying that much for really light wheels would be worth it.

I think.

PHeller wrote: But you could essentially run stock wheels and superlight wides as well?

Yep.

You need some of like this! that will make you even faster!

Nice

John Brown wrote: Nice

+1

Very cool indeed. As a fellow SM EF enthusiast, I am very curious how well the wides work out.

sorta OT, is circle track wide5 the same as early VW wide5?

problemaddict wrote: sorta OT, is circle track wide5 the same as early VW wide5?

Nope. VW is 5 x 205mm IIRC,and Circle track is 5 x 10.75".

DILYSI Dave wrote: I like them too, but they are going to be relegated to rear-only before long. I'm converting the front to a wide-5 setup (yes, like circle track cars) so that I can run affordable yet light weight 15 x 10's. At some point, the rear may also go to wide-5, as the appeal of magnesium hubs may be more than I can resist.

So whaddaya do--get a 4x100 center for it???

That must look badass when it's set up--although I can imagine steering is heavy as hell with that tire width.

gamby wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: I like them too, but they are going to be relegated to rear-only before long. I'm converting the front to a wide-5 setup (yes, like circle track cars) so that I can run affordable yet light weight 15 x 10's. At some point, the rear may also go to wide-5, as the appeal of magnesium hubs may be more than I can resist.

So whaddaya do--get a 4x100 center for it??? That must look badass when it's set up--although I can imagine steering is heavy as hell with that tire width.

Yeah - 4 x100 to Wide 5 adapter. I'll take pics once they arrive.

And yeah - the steering is ridiculous. I need to get me an electric PS pump from an MR2 and install the PS rack I pulled from junk car, anticipating that it would be hard.

Add me to the small car / big tire list! On the subject of which I'll soon be following Dave and cutting up the fenders.

What's a good source for a universal fender that doesn't cost the earth or look like stir fried ass?

I've yet to test em at an auto-x, but too am I following trend.